Container



Feb. 10, 1953 s. J. SARNOFF CONTAINER Filed May 12, 1948 FI-IGQI.

FIG-.5.

M A fro/Mix Patented Feb. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,628,0Il1 r CONTAINER Stanley J. Sarnofi, Boston, Mass. Application May 12, 1948, Serial No. 26,552

4 Claims. (01.?222 209) This invention relates to containers in which fluid and semi-fluid materials, such as liquid cleaners for the teeth, some cosmetics, liquid cements, etc., can be sold at retail and dispensed for use.

l-Ieretofore collapsible metal tubes have been used for such service. Additionally rigid noncollapsible tubes having an outlet at one end and some kind of a compressor or pump at the other have been proposed. The compressor or pump permits the user to compress the contents of the tube and thereby force out small quantities of the fluid when needed for use; the compressor pumps proposed heretofore have inlet valves to admit air to the tubes after each stroke to replace-the bits of fluid discharged and thereby prepare-the apparatus for the discharge of another small quantity when needed.

The present invention provides a rigid noncollapsible type of container having a compressor or pump that is peculiarly desirable for the purpose. Briefly this compressor comprises a plunger having, usually, an external diameter somewhat smaller than the internal diameter of the more or less rigid container tube, and a tube of a flexible material, and. preferably a, resilient material, fastened at one end of the container tube and fastened at its other end to the plunger, and having an intermediate length or portion that is free of both the container tube and the plunger. Preferably the arrangement is such that the plunger lies in the container tube at all times, but this is not altogether necessary as appears hereafter.

The accompanying drawings illustrate various forms which my invention can assume and various applications of it. In those drawings, Fig. l is an elevation of a container embodying the form of my invention which I prefer at present, the plug which normally closes the outlet of the container being shown spaced from the outlet port. Fig. 2 is a section at the pump end of the device of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation showing an other form of the invention and also showing the container of the invention employed as the handle and magazine of a magazine toothbrush. Fig. 4 is a section at the pump end of the device of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an elevation of another form which the pump or compressor may assume. Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the container of my invention comprises primarily a more or lessrigid, non-collapsible tubular body member I having an outlet port 2 at one end for the discharge of the contents of the container and a pump or compressor 3 at, or at least efiective at,

- cover lfor closing the outlet port 2 prior to sale of thewdevice, or between periods of use after sale; the form of this closing member is relatively unimportant; for example-it may consist,

' as shown, of a part to be grasped by the fingers and a conical part toset frictionally in a port 2 similarly shaped. The overall shape of the container, e.- g. whether cylindrical or otherwise, is immaterial except as, for example, the container I or some part of it may be given some particular shape in order to cooperate well with some other part or device; Fig. 3 illustrates a situation of this sort. l

k The pump or-compressor 3, which is shown in greater detail in Fig. 2, has a plunger '1 the major part of .which'is located within the end of the container tube I that opposite the outlet port 2; in -section the plunger 1 may have something like theasame shape as, but materially smaller than, theinterior of the end of the body I of the container in which itrests. A flexible, and preferably resilient, twbe'is connected at its ends 8 and 9 to the plunger and to the adjacent end of the body I of the container, and has an intermediate section In that is left free, i. e. attached to neither iplunger nor the body I of the container. Preferablythe-plunger is made hollow and the end 8 of the flexible tube is attached to the inner surface of the. sidewall of the hollow as indicatedinFig. 2. This tends to produce a connection between the flexible tube and the plunger that is permanent and remains firm under the stresses of operation. In addition to the two being fastened by an adhesive, a ring II may be inserted into the plunger to press the end 8 of the flexible tube to the wall of the plunger firmly, as also is shown in Fig. 2-.- Preferably the end 9 of the flexible tubeis attached to the body I of the container being drawn over the outside of the end of the body I, so as to encompass the end of the body, 2; the elasticity of the flexible tube may be suflicient to hold this end of thefiexible tube-inplace, especially if this tube is made of a resilient material such as rubber or a rubber substitute; but if. not, an" adhesive, for example, may be used. With this arrangement the section 16 of the flexible'tubeliesbetween the plunger and thewall of the container body I of course, at least --in part, and diametrically the plunger'is so much smaller .than the interior of-rthe endoi the body I in-whichit is located that the plunger can be reciprocated in thisend of the bodyI without interference from the section III. In length, or in resiliency (or both) the portion [0 at least partly with, for example, a liquid den- 2 tifrice; if the dentifrice does not completely fill the container, the remainder of the space is filled with air of course. To obtain a small quantity of the dentifrice, the cap or cover 4 is removed,

and this end of the container pointed more or less downwardly; if desired the outlet port can be made so small that little if any of the dentifrice will be drawn out by gravity for a few minutes or longer. The user then thrusts the plunger deeper into the tube as permitted by the flexibility or length of the portion of' the connecting tube. This action, by increasing the pressure within the container l, forces a portion of the dentifrice from the outlet port. If the connecting tube is merely flexible, the user then draws the plunger upward a little way; if the connecting tube is resilient, the resiliency of the portion H) of the connecting tube will force the plunger upward. In either event, the return of the plunger toward its initial position, by reducing the pressure in the container, causes a quantity of air to enter the container through the outlet port 2 to replace the dentifrice discharged. When this has occurred the plunger can be operated again to discharge a further quantity of the dentifrice if desired, or the plug 4' can be inserted into the outlet port to close this port until dentifrice is needed again. 1

A container such as that described can be used for many of the purposes for which collapsible metal tubes are now used. In addition however, they are suitable for use as magazines. Fig. 3 shows an example of this. In this figure, I6 is the head of a toothbrush internally tapered at one end H to receive tightly a similarly tapered end 18 of a container of the type previously described, and having a passage 19 connecting the space for the container end Hi to an outlet 20 in the field of bristles of the brush. If desired the passage 19, or a'portion of it, can be made of such small diameter as to substantially prevent the passage of dentifrice from the container to the outlet 26 except when the pump or compressor is operated. As will be apparent from the foregoing, dentifrice can be supplied to the bristles by holding the head end of the brush downward and operating the pump as before described. When a container has been emptied it can be removed and a filled container substituted for it.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate also a somewhat different form of pump or compressor. In this form the plunger can be either hollow or solid. The flexible, and preferably resilient, connecting tube is connected at 25 to the adjacent end of the container body I in the same manner as at 9 in Fig. 2, and this tube has an intermediate section 25 free of both the container body I and the plunger 24. However the remaining end 2'! of the connecting tube is drawn over the outside of the plunger 24 instead of fastened inside the plunger as in Fig. 2. The end 21 may be fastened to the outside of the plunger by adhesive, but even in such a case the repeated thrusting of the plunger 24 into the container to expelcontents of the container, tends to peel the end 21 from the plunger. This action can be prevented and the connecting tube caused to remain securely on the outside of the plunger, by placing a ring 23 around the outside of the connectin tube near the inner end of the plunger, i. e. between the sections 28 and 21 of the connecting tube as it were, as shown in Fig. 4. That is to say, a ring having an internal diameter not substantially greater than the external diameter of the plungers, and preferably an internal diameter somewhat smaller than the external diameter of the plunger; the ring may be a substantially rigid ring, e. g. a metal ring. Such a rin prevents the section 21 of the connecting tube from being peeled oif the plunger as the plunger is thrust deeper into the tube as can be seen from Fig. 4.

The operation with the pump of Fig. 4 is so like that with the pump of Fig. 2, that the foregoing description of the operation of Fig. 2 will suffice.

As appears from the foregoing, I prefer arrangements in which the plunger of the pump or compressor is located at all times partly within the container body I. This is not wholly necessary however. For example, the plungers of Figs. 2 and 4 can be withdrawn from the container bodies I and reciprocated either wholly outside the bodies or between a position outside and another position partly inside the bodies I, although this is not their intended mode of operation as pointed out above. Fig. 5 illustrates particularly an arrangement in which the plunger is normally held outside the container body I. The plunger 38 in thi case may be substantially like those described previously, although in this case it is not necessary that its external diameter be less than the internal diameter of the body I. As before a flexible tube, and preferably a resilient tube, has a portion or section 3| drawn over and encompassing the adjacent end of the body I, a second portion or section 32 seated on the plunger 36, and an intermediate portion or section 33, free of both container body and plunger, which permits the plunger to be reciprocated with respect to the container body I. It will be obvious that the plunger 30 can be reciprocated wholly outside the container body, or if its diameter is sufficiently small the plunger can be reciprocated partly outside of and partly within the container body (note broken line position in Fig. 5).

The description of the operation with the pump or compressor of Figs. 1 and 2 will serve as a description of the operation with the pump or compressor of Fig. 5.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the invention is not limited to the details of construction and operation described above and shown in the drawings except as appears hereafter in the claims, and also that the claims are intended to include equivalents of the various elements named in them.

I claim:

1. A container comprising a tube provided with an outlet for the discharge of the contents, and at one end a pump having a plunger disposed within said end of the container tube, one end of said plunger projecting from within the end of the container tube, and a tube of resilient material, one end of said resilient tube being fastened to the said end of the container tube, the opposite end of the resilient tube being fastened to the plunger, and an intermediate section of the resilient tube being attached to neither the plunger nor the container tube, said unattached intermediate section of the resilient tube being disposed within the said end of the container tube.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized. by the fact that the end of the flexible tube that is attached to the container tube, encompasses the end of the container tube.

3. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the fact that the end of the plunger that is within the container tube is hollow, and the end of the resilient tube that is attached to the plunger is attached to the inner surface of the side wall of the hollow.

4. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the fact that the end of the resilient tube that is attached to the plunger is attached to the outer longitudinal surface of the plunger, and a ring is provided encircling the section of the resilient 6 tube that is unattached to the plunger and the container tube, the external diameter of the plunger within the container tube being at least as great as the internal diameter of the ring.

STANLEY J. SARN OFF.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 697,835 Giorgetti et al Apr. 15, 1902 1,982,440 Lebowitz Nov. 27, 1934 2,228,435 Binon Jan. 14, 1941 2,276,641 Ball Mar. 17, 1942 2,281,738 Wolcott May 5, 1942 2,352,390 Kirkland June 27, 1944 

